Metroid: Fallen
by Supreme.Empress.DragonGirl
Summary: What Samus believes will be a routine job becomes complicated when the client is a robotic experiment made from a GF Trooper's suit, and a mysterious figure turns up at an intersystem conference who may or may not want to kill her.
1. prologue

**A/N: Good morning/afternoon/evening, readers! I'd like to very briefly introduce a new story. Metroid: Fallen is my current favorite thing ever. It's also a comic, which will have the prologue posted soon on deviantART. It introduces two of my original characters, both of whom feature in nearly all of my Metroid stories. Therefore I thought it was pretty important to post it, because if I want to post the other stories-well, they wouldn't make a lot of sense, now, would they? :P Anyways, enjoy!**

prologue: the new general

The hum of machinery was the only sound in the laboratory as the Head Scientist made the final preparations. His assistants worked silently on either side of the lab, monitoring the readings displayed on the glowing viewscreens.

The Head Scientist checked the connections of all the wires and pipes hooked up to the experiment. This was the most critical stage, and if something went wrong now, all his hours of work would go to waste. There was already a high enough chance they would have start at the beginning again; he refused to allow anything to increase the odds against a success.

"It is ready," he said at last as he stepped back to admire his work. For a moment, he hesitated, thinking back on the past few days, before he gave the order. "Activate the power source."

The first assistant nodded and pressed his claw against the scanner. It glowed a fraction brighter, and the Head Scientist clenched his fists. If all had gone as he'd hoped, the most revolutionary idea in the history of the species was about to become reality. If, of course, something had gone wrong—a single change to the code, the tiniest mistake in his calculations—it would all be for nothing. This was the moment of truth. This was the moment that determined his success...or his failure.

The power source activated with a crackle of energy and a flash of blue and white. The lab's lighting flickered wildly as the wires inside the cell glowed brighter and brighter. The air itself tingled, and there was a taste in the air like lightning.

The lights went out at the exact moment the charge transferred to the experiment itself. The Head Scientist stepped back in alarm, raising his arm to shield his eyes from the burst of white-hot electrical power. The experiment was silhouetted against the light—a winged, humanoid figure, stripped of color and detail by the backdrop of pure energy. Even without the antigravity systems running, it was suspended in midair for a moment as power surged through it.

Silence fell once the crackle of electricity died. The backup lightstrips came on, casting a dim, eerie red glow over the lab. The experiment was on its feet, head down, wings still folded behind it. For a moment, no one moved, and the Head Scientist drew a breath through his teeth, certain he'd failed.

Then, the experiment opened its yellow eyes.

It—no, _he—_raised his head slowly, his eyes fixed on the Head Scientist. He was still little more than a silhouette against the crimson glow of the lightstrips. His wings spread a little, helping him keep his balance as he adjusted.

The Head Scientist stepped forward, his own eyes glowing wickedly. "Welcome back, sir," he said smoothly, ducking his head a little.

The experiment lunged forward, one hand shooting out to grab the Head Scientist's throat. The Scientist tried hopelessly to free himself, both of his clawed hands struggling in vain against the grip of his creation. "What happened?" the experiment demanded, his claws digging into the Scientist's unarmored flesh. "Where's-"

He stopped short, his eyes narrowing slightly, and drew back as suddenly as he'd attacked. The Scientist gasped for breath, rubbing his bruised throat as the experiment stared at his hand.

"What..." began the experiment weakly. He paused to compose himself and looked back at the Scientist, fury burning in his eyes. "What have you _done_ to me?"

The Scientist stepped back, a little wary. He wasn't quite surprised, but he'd hoped this new creation would take a little longer to find his footing. Clearly, he'd been wrong. "You were..._well-defeated_ this time, sir," he began cautiously. He hadn't actually seen it first-hand, of course, but there had been an explosion that shook every room in the building. "Unfortunately, we were unable to resurrect you."

The experiment looked as if he wanted to go back to strangling the Scientist, but he waited.

"Nor, I'm afraid, did we have the time to construct a new body for you," the Scientist went on in a hurry. Explaining things to the General in any form was a risky business; he'd gotten this position when the last Head Scientist failed to do so satisfactorily.

"So what is _this?"_ growled the experiment, folding his arms.

"_This,"_ said the Head Scientist, "is our greatest experiment ever." He gestured to the computer screens, which were still active and displaying the readings from the experiment. "We used the body of a former Federation trooper and modified his genetic material with pterodragon DNA."

The experiment nodded, the rage fading a little from his face.

Very relieved, the Head Scientist went on. "We then uploaded your mind to the soldier's brain, creating what we hoped would function as a smaller form for yourself, sir."

The question, of course, had been whether the formerly human body would accept the genetic modifications, and whether it would resume normal processes, given the right spark. So far, it seemed to be working, but only time would tell for certain.

Either way, he had succeeded—or at least come a long way towards succeeding—and now, the only thing to do was turn the experiment loose and watch what happened. "This is the result of that experiment," he finished proudly, turning away with a nasty grin on his face. "_This,_ sir, is the new General of the Space Pirates!"


	2. The Soldier's Request

**A/N: And now we get to our main story! A note about the continuity of this: It's not really anywhere real in the timeline of the games. Sorry if that bothers anyone! Like in Fusion, Adam is the ship's computer, but the ship looks and works like the one in Corruption (just for a visual), as that's my favorite ship of hers, and Samus has the usual Varia Suit. It also takes place almost immediately after Samus has defeated Ridley at an unspecified point. (That's the battle they're talkign about here, if you can't tell! :P) Now...read it and ejoy it, by command of the Supreme Empress! ~DG**

chapter i: the soldier's request

_Reconstruction complete.  
__Recovery successful.  
Exiting stasis mode..._

Samus opened her eyes slowly and pushed herself upright with one hand, holding her hair back with the other as she shook off the remnants of sleep. _Welcome back, Lady,_ said the ship calmly. She wasn't quite sure when the computer had started talking, but it still threw her off to hear the familiar voice.

"Hi, Adam," she said vaguely, and sighed. She was still tired; weird dreams didn't make for good sleep, no matter how long you were in semistasis.

_Are you feeling better?_ he asked.

"Yeah," she said as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Physically, she felt great-the reconstruction hadn't left any damage from the recent battle. Mentally, of course, was another question, but one she set aside for the moment. "Funny dreams, though," she added. The dream was already slipping away—all she could remember was someplace dark, and the feeling she was supposed to do something.

"Whatever," she said, looking up. "Anyways, where are we?"

_Position: 205-193-87,_ he said, and displayed a map on the holograph above the controls. _54.22 Ls from the nearest GF flagship, 3.16 Lm from the location of the intersystem comference...and far away from the Space Pirates._

"That's great, thanks," she said, smiling a little. "Anything else I should know?"

_Well, there were some space pirate ships not long ago—seven of them. _

"And?" she asked, leaning forward slightly.

_Cloaked! They didn't see us._

"Good work!" she said, pleased. Space pirate ships could have been nasty, especially taking the recent battle into consideration, but that danger had apparently been avoided.

_The ship did take some damage, though, _he added. _We'll need repairs when you make a landing._

"No problem," she said, waving a hand. "Just remind me, alright?"

_Done!_ he said. And...you have a message.

"Hm?" she asked, looking up again. The holograph displyed the words _Message waiting_. She frowned and tapped on the icon to play the message.

With a flicker, the image of a Federation soldier appeared. "Samus Aran," he said, and turned his head to look over his shoulder before looking back at her. "I don't have much time. The Space Pirates are after me. I need-" The message faded out, then reappeared. "-your help," the soldier finished. "Please, if you get this message, find me. If they catch me, it's over."

The holograph of the soldier turned suddenly, as if he'd heard a sound, before he reached out to shut off the recorder. The holograph vanished for a second, and then started over at the beginning, repeating the message.

"Do we know anything else?" she asked, staring up at the image.

_The message was sent via an encrypted communications channel-_ Adam began.

"A GF channel?"

_Of course. Also, a distress signal is attached, which contains coordinates._

"Right," she said slowly. "Do we have time?"

_There are 81 hours until you have to report for the conference._

"That's plenty of time," she said, starting to smile. "After all, this shouldn't take too long."

_Setting the course for those coordinates,_ Adam informed her.

"Let's go!" she said, and prepared the thrusters. The screen flashed _READY,_ and she pushed the lever up, activating the jump engines. "After all," she added as the ship shot forward and into lightspeed, "fighting Space Pirates _is_ my job!"

The ship dropped out of lightspeed twenty minutes later to enter the atmostphere of a ringed planet sparkling in the white-gold light of its star. _This is Cloryss,_ Adam said helpfully. _Twenty-five percent of the planet is ocean, twenty-five percent is forest, and the last fifty, is all city much like what's below us._ It was a beautiful planet—even more stunning than Capitol, which was pretty impressive.

Samus activated her power suit and uploaded the coordinates as the gunship descended and a shining city unfolded below them. The wings folded down to land, and she heard the rear thrusters activate as the ship touched down on the platform.

She stood up and stepped backwards into the lift, which lowered her to the ground with a hiss. _Good luck, Lady,_ said Adam over her communicator. She nodded and checked her location on the map. The position of the coordinates wasn't far away; this wouldn't take long.

The lucky thing was that, from what she could see, this looked like just the kind of city where seeing someone walk down the street in a full armor suit would be an everyday thing. That would make sense—after all, the trooper she was looking for had chosen it as a place to hide from the pirates. Naturally he would want ot be able to blend in.

She strode off confidently in the direction of the soldier's location, checking her own position once in a while to stay on track. This shouldn't be a difficult mission, but she couldn't help looking over her shoulder every few minutes.

_Space pirate ships _were _sighted,_ she reminded herself. _For all we know, they could have been after the same soldier I'm looking for—which means there could already be space pirates here._

She wouldn't mind a fight with a few pirates, actually, if it could only be that simple. There were just two problems with that: first, if more than one or two of those ships had come here, a few space pirates could very quickly become a _lot of _space pirates. Second, if they sent for reinforcements, more would swarm in like flies to honey. Their quarry _and_ Samus Aran would be too good to resist.

Fortunately, she reached the place without incident. It looked like an apartment building—probably seven stories high, with balconies on every floor. Her first thought was that it didn't look like the sort of place one chose as a hiding place. Then she realized that was exactly what made it perfect, assuming you could get inside—it was the last place Space Pirates would think of searching.

There was no sign above the door of the apartment, just a scanner beside it for those who didn't have an energy cannon. She considered for a moment and decided to enter the polite way, without shooting the door. It hissed open the second she pressed her hand against the scanner, and she stepped inside. "Too easy," she murmured, grinning, and checked the map. It expanded to show the floors of the building, as well as the soldier's location on the fourth story.

The lift carried her up and stopped smoothly, the doors opening to let her out. She hesitated on the landing, unsure of what she was supposed to do. After a moment of hesitation, she just hammered on the door. "Anyone home?" she called loudly, hoping the soldier could hear her. "I got a message to come here."

The door opened to reveal her client, just like he had been in the holograph. Seeing him face-to-face, however, caught her off-guard, and it took her a minute to realize it was because of his height. He was clearly human, but he stood easily as tall as she was—taller, perhaps, even if the suit _did_ add to his height. That wasn't something that happened every day.

"Samus Aran," he said, sounding relieved. "Come in."

The door closed behind her as she followed him into the apartment. "What is this place?" she asked curiously, looking around at the glowing glass scultures around the room.

"Mine, for now," he said coolly. "Whoever lives here went on vacation and left the balcony door unbarred." He sat down in a chair. "It wasn't hard to get in."

"So you're living in someone else's apartment while pirates are chasing you?" she repeated, and sat down across the table from him..

"Look, I don't exactly like it," he said, a little defensively. "I wouldn't be doing it if I had any choice, but I _don't."_

"Okay," she said quickly, raising her hands. "I'm not attacking you. I was just wondering."

He hesitated for a moment, his shoulders still raised and his fists clenched, before he nodded, relaxing. She blinked, a frown flickering across her face; for a second, he'd reminded her of something, but it was no more than a vague feeling, and it was gone before she could work out what it had been.

"Before I agree to help you, I _would_ like to clarify a few things," she added. "For one thing, what is it you did to make the space pirates hunt you down with enough determination to need my help?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and she felt a flicker of uncertainty. She hadn't been exactly nice—after all, she was a _hunter, _she wasn't _supposed_ to be nice—but she hadn't wanted to offend him, either. After a few seconds of silence, though, he replied, "I started thinking, for a start."

"Started—wait." She frowned. "I don't understand."

"Catch," he said, reaching up to pull off his helmet. She held up her hands to catch it, but when he took the helmet off, she was so surprised she almost missed anyways.

The soldier had no head.

"Hey, look," said his voice, but it was still coming from the helmet. She looked down at it to see the inside was lined with electronics.

"Oh," she said, and paused. "I'm still not sure what this has to do with space pirates."

"I'm—or I _was—_an experiment," he said, a hint of anger in his voice. "They wired up the inside of a Federation suit as a robot, and ran the processes through a memory chip that's in all the suits."

"Right," she said, starting to work it out on her own now. "But the experiment failed—there's still some of the soldier left in you're memory chip. You're really a copy of the former trooper, yes? You had to get away from the pirates—they wanted you to fight the Federation, but that's where your loyalty still lies."

"Exactly," he agreed. "Of course, they couldn't let me get away with that, even if I hadn't hijacked one of their ships to escape. They chased me, and we ended up here."

"And you contacted me," she said, and got up to give him his head back. "Of course—I'm their worst enemy. You already knew that—every soldier knows _of_ me, even if they don't know me. Sorry, I'm not trying to sound full of myself, it's just true. You must know that."

"Yeah, but there's another problem," he said. "They didn't completely forget about the soldier inside the chip. I have his personality—whoever he was—but none of the memories. I need to get away from the space pirates, yes—but if there's any way for it to be done, I also need to have the limiter removed from my memory chip."

She stood up, thinking. "That _is_ more of a problem," she said. "And it definitely seems like you need some long-term protection from the space pirates. That wouldn't make a difference, ordinarily, but I need to report at an intersystem conference. I've been assigned to protect the leaders involved, which, from what I've heard, might be quite the task."

"It does sound like just the sort of thing the space pirates would love to crash," he agreed darkly.

"Exactly." She turned to look out the window. "I have some time before I need to report, so we have options—I could take you to a Federation ship, they'd protect you there and you might find someone able to get your memories back to you. Unless-"

Even in her head, she didn't even get a chance to follow that thought through to its conclusion, because just then the door hissed open and a half a dozen space pirates ran into the room, their weapons already firing at both Samus and the robot soldier.

Samus brought two of them down with a few good shots, and the suit/trooper took another one out. It didn't look like this was going to be so hard after all, except that the three remaining pirates were bigger and more heavily armored. And as if that weren't bad enough, the door had opened again as another handful of them spilled out of the lift and into the apartment.

"Heads up!" shouted the soldier, and fired right over her head. She turned to see an aerotrooper on the balcony. It flew back as the blast struck it, but it recovered quickly and swooped into the apartment, followed by two others of its kind.

She ducked to avoid a stream of fire aimed for her head. Another pirate hit her from behind while she was still off-blanace, and she went sprawling. A burst of energy shot over her. She heard the shriek of a space pirate dying. Smiling grimly behind her visor, she scrambled to her feet and rejoined the fray.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the soldier step back to fire at one of the pirates. He _was_ good; even she couldn't deny that. Maybe a little foolhardy, but brave, unlike most of the pathetic troopers in the GF Marines. Shame he was probably dead.

Of course, she thought as she turned to blast a pirate behind him, there was a reason most feds preferred to stay behind any cover available.

"Thanks," he called. She didn't have time to respond. A pirate charged at her, its weapon blazing. She leaped to the side, still firing back. It staggered and fell, but got to its feet again. She charged her cannon and released a huge blast of energy straight at the pirate's chest. This time, it didn't get up.

The space pirates drove her towards the center of the room, despite her efforts to hold her ground, until she found herself back-to-back with Mal. "You didn't mention-" she began, and paused to take a clear shot at one of the pirates. "That there were so many!" she finished, and kicked at a pirate who got too close.

"Sorry," he said, and swung around to take out an aerotrooper's jets. The pirate screamed as its damaged flight system sent it spiraling out of control. "I didn't know—get _down!"_

Some subconscious part of her reacted, and she dove to the ground. Something hit her, shorting out her visor for a minute. Something exploded beside her, and even through her suit she could feel the heat. A space pirate hissed, but the sound became a screech. There was the sound of more firing, and a shout of pain.

Her vision returned the next second, and she saw the soldier hit the ground hard. Her irritation at the attack flared into anger, and she scrambled to her feet. This had gone on too long.

Space pirates fell like a row of toy soldiers as she fired one missile after another. Beside her, the soldier was getting up again. The last remaining aerotrooper dove at her, its engines flaming. A rocket exploded in its face, sending it flying in the other direction. She and the soldier turned together to find one pirate left. It fired two shots, and then gave up. The last missile hit its mark, and the pirate fell.

"You alright?" she asked, turning to the soldier.

"Considering the circumstances, I think so," he said, sounding exhausted.

She sighed and removed her helmet to push her hair out of her face. "Good enough, I guess," she said. "Anyways, I'm changing the plan. You're coming with me to the conference."

"Um, okay," he said. "May I ask why?"

"That was _way_ too many troopers to send after just _any_ escaped experiment," she said, frowning. "There's something special about you, sir, and until I figure out exactly what it is, I want to keep you where I can see you."

He saluted. "Whatever you say, Miss Aran."

"Miss Aran?" She laughed bitterly. "No one's called me that for a long time. It's just Samus."

"Sorry. I'll keep it in mind."

"Good." She reactivated her helmet and turned towards him. "Now, let's get back to my ship. I think the faster we get out of here, the better. After all, we don't want to be here if any more of them show up."


	3. Meeting at the Conference

**Samus: I belong to Nintendo, as well as my ship, Adam Malkovitch, Metroid, and all that. The soldier doesn't, though. He's DragonGirl's.**

chapter ii: meeting at the conference

Samus and the soldier-suit arrived at the ship without further incident, thankfully. "I'll go up first," she said, and stepped into the lift. It raised her into the ship, and she jumped off so the soldier gcould get in.

_Welcome back, Lady,_ Adam said. _Was your-_

Whatever he was about to ask was cut off by static, at the same moment as the lift brought the soldier up. "So now-" the soldier began, but Samus held up a hand, frowning at the computer screen.

A second later, the static cleared. _Mission successful? _finished the computer.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Well, except for the space pirates."

_Except for-_

"You sit back here," she told the soldier before Adam could ask. "There's only room for one in the cockpit." She opened the cockpit door and sat down.

"I'm deactivating now," the soldier said. "Let me know when we're there, alright?"

"Okay," she agreed, and closed the door. "Set the destination to the conference site; we're going directly there."

_Done,_ Adam said. _So, what's this about space pirates?_

"Nothing much," she said, and deactivated the Varia Suit. "Is something wrong with the ship's systems? There was static when we came in."

_Some kind of feedback. It's gone now. And, by the way, stop avoiding the question._

"I said it was nothing," she repeated more forcefully.

_Samus... _

She sighed. "It was just a...skirmish."

_A skirmish that drained nearly half of your energy?_

That made her smile a little. "It's only that the situation is...well, it's more complicated than we thought."

_How so?_ he asked.

"Well, for a start, our soldier friend is a robot," she said, and activated the thrusters. "The pirates apparently wired up the inside of the suit as an experiment. I'd guess they wanted to use him as a soldier, but that didn't go exactly as planned."

_But you're confident he can be trusted?_

"For the moment, yes." She leaned back in the chair. "He says that his thought processes are run through a memory chip in the suit, containing the memories of the soldier who it belonged to.  
After a moment, she added, "He also helped me fight off at least a dozen space pirates, for what that's worth."

_A dozen?_ Adam echoed. _That seems like a lot. Are you sure you shouldn't be in stasis?"_

"No, I'm fine," she said. "Just repair the suit. Anyways, point is, that _is_ a lot to be chasing a rebel experiment. That's what he's coming to the conference with me. There's something funny about him."

_Yes, he's clearly more than he seems,_ the computer agreed. _Hm—if his thoughts are run through the record chip, then he'd probably be essentially a copy of the original soldier. Did he mention who that was?_

"No," she said. "That's another problem. The space pirates thought that might cause them trouble, and put a damper on the chip. He might have the personality and loyalties of the original soldier, but he has no memories."

_There may be a way to remove the damper, _he said thoughtfully.

"So we both hope," she agreed. "If he can remember who he is, it might explain an awful lot."

_It certainly might._ He paused, images flickering rapidly across the screen as he thought. _What else happened, aside from the pirates?_

"What do you mean?" she asked, though she had the feeling she knew.

_Something's bothering you,_ he explained simply.

She frowned. "During the battle—when the space pirates attacked—he gave me an order."

_An order?_ Adam paused, and she had the feelign he was laughing at her. _How did you take that?_

She hesitated and looked at her hands, thinking. "I obeyed him," she said quietly. "I don't even know why—I just did."

_Soldier's instinct,_ he explained. She looked up, curious. _You were in the middle of a fight and you didn't have time to think. If he gave the order with enough force, your subconscious would have responded since your brain wasn't fast enough._ The holograph displayed an image of a girl in uniform, a slender girl with cropped blonde hair and a solemn look in her eyes. _You may not be in the GF Forces any longer, but you've still got something of a soldier in you, Lady._

Samus looked away from the girl in the holograph. "I wonder-" she began, but she stopped, biting that thought back and pushing it out of her mind. "Anything else you can find out about the soldier?" she asked instead. Anything to make him display something else. There were too many memories attached to that picture for her liking.

Apparently he understood, because the image vanished at once, leaving the holograph empty while he scanned the trooper. A moment later, the new information appeared. _There's not much,_ he said. _Or, at least, not much we didn't already know. The suit belonged to a basic GF Marine, though it's a different design than the most current suits. I'd say he was probably a soldier a good five years ago, maybe longer. _

"No codes or anything?" she asked hopefully.

_Nothing. Whatever the pirates did to it, it's doing a good job at keeping any information locked up. I scanned the helmet, but I couldn't find any sign of the damper. Maybe when he's awake I'll try it again._

"Guess we'll see." She sighed, putting one foot up on the controls. "How much farther is it?"

_ETA in 3.27 Lm and counting._

"Awesome. Is my suit ready?"

_Of course._

"And the soldier's?"

_Energy fully replenished. You're both set to go._

"Perfect." She leaned back, smiling a little. "In that case, let's just hope the conference goes smoothly. If we're lucky, two weeks from now we'll be flying off on a new mission-all questions answered, no loose threads, and another job well done."

_Something tells me it won't be that easy,_ he warned, and she knew he was right. Realistically, nothing could ever be quite that simple. Still, she was in an unusually optimistic mood, and it never hurt anyone to hope.

The ship landed in the docking bay at the edge of the official Neutral Zone. Samus activated her own suit, then went to the back and reactivated the soldier. He sat up suddenly. "Good, we're here," he said, and got to his feet.

"Hold on a minute," Samus told him. "Adam—the ship—he wanted to scan you while you were active, to see if he could find out more about that limiter."

The scan initiated, but the systems were cutting out again. _Scan—scanning-kkkzzzkk-_ Adam managed. _Ah, the interference—SYSTEM ERROR—feedback is causing-_

Samus ighed through her teeth. "Of course," she said darkly. "There have to be a lot of signals going on here, especially right at the border of the Neutral Zone. Give him a minute."

_Recalibrating,_ Adam said. The static went away, except for a few flickers across the screen. _Scanning. Please don't—kkkkkkkzzzzkkkk-ahhh-_

His voice cut out, and numbers flashed across the screen for a few seconds before it dissolved into static again.

"Does it usually take this long?" asked the soldier.

"He usually doesn't have to do this at _all,"_ she said, frowning. "It might be something that'll take care of itself in an hour or two. In the worst case, it'll need a total recalibration, which could take a day or so. Regardless, we don't have time for this. Let's go."

The lift carrried them down one at a time to the platform, where they were greeted by a conference official. His nametag said his name was Kilian. "You must be Miss Aran, right?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Samus," she said, and shook it. "And this is...ah. A soldier. Who came with me. To, um, help."

"Excellent," said Kilian, distracted. There was something sort of frantic about him—in the harried tone of his voice, and the look in his eyes. "There's a few other GF Marines here; you can room with them, sir, there's space. Miss—ah, Samus, you'll be staying..."

"I can sleep in my ship," she said at once. "I won't be needing a room."

"Oh. Oh, good." He nodded and audjusted the sleeves of his uniform. "Right, so, then I'll show your friend—sorry, I didn't catch your name-"

The soldier glanced at Samus for help. "Cayman," she said quickly, and then wished she hadn't. It was the first name she'd thought of, but General Cayman was an important soldier, and there was definitely a chance he was at this conference.

However, if Kilian recognized the name, he didn't point it out. "I'll show Cayman his room, then," he agreed, and hurried towards the door.

"Cayman?" asked the soldier quietly.

"A soldier I knew once," she said. "He was—a friend, I suppose. It was just the first name that came to mind."

"Fair enough."

"Listen," she continued, glancing ahead at Kilian before looking back to the soldier. "I'd really prefer if no one else knew exactly what you are. It's not that I think these troopers are untrustworthy—I'm sure they're not, if they're here to protect the conference leaders—but _they_ won't be likely to trust _you_ if they know you were created by the...by _them."_

"That makes sense," he agreed. "I'll be careful."

"And don't let on that you aren't human, either," she whispered. "That'll just raise questions. Introduce yourself as Cayman—if it turns out he's here, I'll talk to him. He'll play along if I explain enough."

"What if they recognize the name?" he asked.

"Make something up! Say you're, I don't know, from the same colony and it's a common name there. _They_ don't know you're not telling the truth."

Kilian stopped in front of a door. "It's right here," he said. "If you get lost, you can check on the map—there should be room assignments posted around. I don't think any of the others are here yet—oh, I've got to run. Enjoy your stay, both of you!"

He sprinted off, still looking flustered and strained. Samus watched him until he turned the corner and vanished, and then turned to the soldier.

"I'm going to explore this place a bit," she said. "You can come along if you want. I'd like to make sure everything's on _my_ map before the conference starts."

"I'm coming," he said quickly, and followed as she continued down the hall.

Four blocks of buildings had been designated for the conference, not including the docking areas around the edges, or the barricades set up around the Neutral Zone. Roughly at the center of the area was their temporary meeting hall, a large building which ordinarily served as the planet's capitol. The central tower was six stories high and mostly for show. It was in the wings on either side that meetings would be taking place, in large, boring, rectangular meeting rooms.

Around the meeting center were all kinds of other buildings—transmission towers set up as temporary television studios and broadcast centers, office buildings converted into rooms for the conference leaders and the soldiers there to protect them, warehouses where the things removed from the buildings were being kept until the conference was over.

"I can see why you want this all on your map," the soldier said as Samus led the way towards the center of the complex.

"Mm-hmm," she agreed coolly. "Especially because as a soldier—of a sort, anyways—I have to be ready to report anywhere on the complex."

"Of a sort?" he asked. "Aren't you in the GF Forces?"

"I was," she explained. "Part of an elite team in the Federation Police, back when they existed."

"Didn't you want to stay with the forces as a Marine, though?"

She laughed. "I left before the system changed. Well, sort of." She shook her head. "I still work almost exclusively for the Federation, but now I'm a Hunter."

"Oh," he said, but there was something in his tone that sounded uncertain. "Is that...a bad thing?"

"Not for most people, no." She sighed. "I'd rather resign completely. The problem is, I don't have a choice as of right now. See, I dunno if you'd remember this, but if you're still with the GF troops after your first year as a cadet, you get a five-year contract. If you change your mind after that, too bad, because you're _stuck."_

"That sounds vaguely familiar," he agreed. "I'm...sorry?"

"Whatever," she said. "I've got less than a year now."

"That's good, I suppose," he said. A few seconds passed. "Why are you so desperate to get out of the Federation?"

Her eyes narrowed behind the shield of her visor as she turned her head to look at him.

"If you don't mind telling me," he added hastily.

She looked away, back up at the shiny, window-covered central tower of the capitol right ahead of them. "The situation changed," she said at last, "and I didn't like the new one."

He ducked his head and didn't reply to that. She entered the building, and he came in a few steps behind. It was even brighter and more chrome-and-glass on the inside than it had been on the outside, if that was possible, and a few people—officials and some soldiers from various systems—were walking around on the balconies.

"You can wait here if you'd prefer," she said. "I just need to get the names of the conference rooms."

He followed her anyways as she visited the big meeting rooms one at a time. No one spoke to either of them, but a few of them looked at Samus with mild interest. Even the ones from outside the Federation had an idea who she was. She was too used to it to care one way or the other about it; after all, it wasn't unusual for people to look at her.

Something that _was _unusual finally happened as she was walking out of one of the rooms on the third floor. At the same moment she came through the door, someone walked in at the other end of the hallway. He froze when he caught sight of her, and his eyes narrowed. For a moment, he stood there, watching her, with a look that might have been either fury or fear on his face. Then, without a word, he turned and sprinted out the way he came.

"What was that about?" asked the soldier.

"No idea," she replied grimly, "but I intend to find out. Let's go."

**A/N: UGH. I hate hate hate the ending of this chapter, but there was nothing else that worked. IT'S SO HARD TO WRITE THIS AS A STORY! T_T Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the rest of the chapter, and found the end to be at least satisfactory! Hmm, lots of intrigue in this chapter! And some character building! Yay! The next one will be better, I promise...:P  
~DG~  
**


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